Education Minister Defends ‘Respectful’ Strip Searches of Students

Quebec Education Minister Yves Bolduc said it’s OK to strip search students suspected of concealing drugs as long as it’s done respectfully and by the book.

“It is permitted to do strip searches, on one condition: it must be very respectful, ” he said at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

“There are reasons for which we can be obliged to conduct searches,” he continued. “What’s important is that we respect the law and respect the framework that was put in place (for searching students) and respect the person.”

Bolduc was defending staff at the Neufchâtel High School in Quebec City, who reportedly strip-searched a 15-year-old student last Thursday on the suspicion that she had offered to sell marijuana to her friend.

The Coalition Avenir Québec’s point person on education, Jean-François Roberge, called for Bolduc’s resignation.

“It was completely, completely wrong to say that it’s OK to force a teenage to get nude just because the principal thinks that maybe she has some drugs on her,” he said. “And I would have thought that the minister would stop this and say it’s wrong. But no, no, he said it’s good and there’s no problem with this.”